Alon Day Drives Through CUBE 3 TA2 Series Field to Stand on Road Atlanta Podium

Helio Meza, the 18-year-old Chevrolet development prospect, is going to be difficult to beat for the Trans Am Series Presented by Pirelli CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series championship this season, but his teammate and veteran road racer, Alon Day, is certainly going to be a contender.

A four-time champion in EuroNASCAR PRO, Day is a perennial part-time NASCAR National Series road course racer making his first-ever jump into the Trans Am Series Presented by Pirelli in 2026, and in doing so, is looking to bring Team SLR a title.

On Saturday, in the second CUBE 3 TA2 Series event of the season, Day, a native of Ashdod, Isreal had a championship-caliber performance, driving his No. 17 JSSR / TeamSLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro from 25th-place on the starting grid onto the podium at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

While running extremely competitive lap times during Friday’s practice session, laps comparable to eventual polesitter and race-winner Helio Meza, Day wrecked his No. 17 Chevrolet Camaro into the barriers in Turn 5. With critical damage, Team SLR was unable to get things repaired in time for qualifying, leaving him to start shotgun on the field for Saturday’s 40-lapper.

While his rookie teammate, Meza, was out front leading the race over NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular Andres Perez de Lara (running a one-off for Team SLR during an off-weekend for the Truck Series), Day was methodically working his way through the pack, getting around several drivers in the PRO/AM Class early in the event and creeping his way forward as the laps continued to click off.

As is standard for Trans Am Series events, Saturday’s CUBE 3 TA2 Series event measured at approximately 100 miles (101.6 miles, in actuality). While that may seem like a significant distance, it didn’t provide a lot of opportunities for ground to be made up once the field got stretched out.

Lucky for Day, Saturday’s event at Road Atlanta featured multiple full-course cautions, and by the time the race had completed 35 of 40 laps, the No. 17 had driven through the pack all the way to sixth. The final restart was where the 34-year-old driver really made his money, passing Nitro Motorsports teammates Jackson Tovo and Sam Corry, as well as Silver Hare Racing driver Noah Harmon, to snag the final podium position in the final laps of the race.

In the end, it was a caution for fellow Team SLR driver Lanie Buice that saw the checkered flag fall on the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series field with Day finishing third behind Meza and Perez de Lara.

“I’m speechless,” Day told Racing America post-race. “There are a couple of people I really need to say thanks to. First of all, JSSI for giving me the opportunity to be here. Without them, I wouldn’t be here, and Team SLR, I mean, they worked really hard. Yesterday, we had a bad crash in practice, and I couldn’t qualify, so that’s the reason why I started from the back. Those guys, each one of them, did a hell of a job giving me a fighter jet. That’s what it felt like.”

The 19th-place starting spot for Day in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series is the worst in-class starting position for a podium-sitter in the division since Connor Zilisch started from 34th and drove to the victory on the Music City Grand Prix Street Course in August 2023.

Now, after a tough 14th-place finish in the season-opening race at Sebring International Raceway, Day now finds himself tied for fifth in CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series point standings (with Stanton Barrett and Sam Corry), as the series takes about a month off before a doubleheader at Sonoma Raceway.

Photo: Chris Clark